"What Foolish Forgetfulness..."

“You live as if you were destined to live forever, no thought of your frailty ever enters your head, of how much time has already gone by you take no heed. You squander time as if you drew from a full and abundant supply, so all the while that day which you bestow on some person or thing is perhaps your last. You have all the fears of mortals and all the desires of immortals… What foolish forgetfulness of mortality to defer wise resolutions to the fiftieth or sixtieth year, and to intend to begin life at a point to which few have attained.”

- Denis Diderot

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Hans Zimmer, "Time"

“‘Sometimes’: Poet and Philosopher David Whyte’s Stunning Meditation on Walking into the Questions of Our Becoming”

“‘Sometimes’: Poet and Philosopher David Whyte’s 

Stunning Meditation on Walking into the Questions of Our Becoming”

by Maria Popova

“The role of the artist, James Baldwin believed, is “to make you realize the doom and glory of knowing who you are and what you are.” This, too, is the role of the forest, it occurs to me as I walk the ferned, mossed woods daily to lose my self and find myself between the trees; to “live the questions,” in Rilke’s lovely phrase – to let the rustling of the leaves beckon forth the stirrings and murmurings on the edge of the psyche, which we so often brush away in order to go on being the smaller version of ourselves we have grown accustomed to being out of the unfaced fear that the grandeur of life, the grandeur of our own untrammeled nature, might require of us more than we are ready to give.

Those disquieting, transformative stirrings are what the poet and philosopher David Whyte explores with surefooted subtlety in his poem “Sometimes,” found in his altogether life-enlarging collection “Everything Is Waiting for You” (public library) and read here by the poet himself as part of a wonderful short course of poem-driven practices for neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris’s “Waking Up” meditation toolkit (which I can’t recommend enough and which operates under an inspired, honorable model of granting free subscriptions to those who need this invaluable mental health aid but don’t have the means).

“Sometimes”

“Sometimes

if you move carefully

through the forest,

breathing

like the ones

in the old stories,

who could cross

a shimmering bed of leaves

without a sound,

you come to a place

whose only task

is to trouble you

with tiny

but frightening requests,

conceived out of nowhere

but in this place

beginning to lead everywhere.

Requests to stop what

you are doing right now,

and

to stop what you

are becoming

while you do it,

questions

that can make

or unmake

a life,

questions

that have patiently

waited for you,

questions

that have no right

to go away.”

- David Whyte

Complement with Whyte on anger, forgiveness, and what maturity really means, hardship as the ground for self-expansion, and his lovely letter to children about reading as a portal to self-discovery, then revisit other great poets bringing their own versed wisdom to life: Marie Howe reading “Singularity,” Marissa Davis reading her own “Singularity” in response to Howe’s, Jane Hirshfield reading “Today, Another Universe,” Ross Gay reading “Ode to Buttoning and Unbuttoning My Shirt,” Marilyn Nelson reading “The Children’s Moon,” and former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith reading from “My God, It’s Full of Stars.”

- https://mailchi.mp/brainpickings/

"A Hard Rain Is Going to Fall"

"A Hard Rain Is Going to Fall"

by Charles Hugh Smith

You'll recognize A Hard Rain Is Going to Fall as a cleaned-up rendition of Bob Dylan's classic "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall". Since the world had just avoided a nuclear conflict in the Cuban Missile Crisis, commentators reckoned Dylan was referencing a nuclear rain. But he denied this connection in a radio interview, stating: "...it's just a hard rain. It isn't the fallout rain. I mean some sort of end that's just gotta happen...." ( Source)

Which brings us to the present and America's dependence on the sandcastles of monopoly, corruption, free money and a two-tier legal/political system. You know, BAU - business as usual. A hard rain's a-gonna fall on these sand castles because, well, the end of unsustainable stuff has just gotta happen, as the man said.

Here's the problem with monopoly, corruption, free money and a two-tier legal/political system: they impoverish and diminish everyone who isn't an insider or in the top 10% Protected Class, as these are institutionalized forms of legalized looting: monopolies and cartels raise costs by smothering competition, corruption is a hidden tax on everyone not at the feeding trough, free money devalues the dollar, robbing everyone forced to use it, and a two-tier legal system enriches the few (corporate criminals never go to prison) and undermines the social contract via blatant unfairness and lack of justice.

As for the two-tier political system: monopoly, corruption and Fed free money have undermined democracy. Regardless of who wins the election, lobbyists and billionaires will still dominate the day-to-day business of political pay-to-play.

By enriching and protecting the few at the expense of the many, America's business as usual has eroded the social contract and trust in institutions and authority. When everybody's on the take and has an insider skim, then denying a conflict of interest simply confirms the ubiquity of conflicts of interest. The pendulum has swung to such extremes of unfairness, corruption and inequality that the swing back will be monumental in scale and duration.

Another reason a hard rain's gonna fall is America's core institutions have been obsolete for years or decades, but those feeding at the trough refuse to allow any change that threatens their place at the trough. Peter Drucker explained how tectonic shifts in the economic order obsoletes entire sectors in his 1993 book "Post-Capitalist Society". Drucker mentions higher education and healthcare as sectors ripe for the plow, yet these politically sacrosanct sectors have ground on unchanged for decades, vacuuming up trillions in borrowed money to keep from being obsoleted.

Despite the best efforts of self-serving insiders, sand castles still melt in a hard rain. Speaking of sand castles, consider the vast number of sectors teetering on massive excess capacity: commercial real estate, retail space, restaurants, etc. Two generations ago, going to a restaurant - even a fast-food outlet - was a rare event. Since then, it somehow became a birthright to eat out once or twice a day.

A hard rain's a-gonna fall on over-capacity and debt-dependent spending. Free money for financiers constructed a fragile sandcastle of too much of everything but actual value, so now the status quo frantically seeks to protect every melting sandcastle of over-capacity.

The status quo is about to discover that it can't stop the hard rain or protect its fragile sandcastles. Whatever piles of sand are left after the rain will be swept away by the karmic tide as the pendulum swings back: the way of the Tao is reversal."

- https://www.oftwominds.com/

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Bob Dylan, "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall "

The Daily "Near You?""

Wesson, Mississippi, USA. Thanks for stopping by!

"The Coming Doomsday Debt Debacle"

"The Coming Doomsday Debt Debacle"

By Bill Bonner

SAN MARTIN, ARGENTINA – "The New York Times says that the major hobgoblins of our time – COVID-19, global warming, racism, etc. – have been upstaged by a new concern. No kidding: Now, in a stark reminder of the tumultuous nature of the 2020 race, all of those issues […] have been eclipsed in the political dialogue by a fight over health precautions and transparency that is set to define the next presidential debate, scheduled for Oct. 15. The NYT is not known for tongue-in-cheek news reports. We assume it is serious. But it is the kind of seriousness you expect from a mental defective. The health precautions taken at the next presidential candidate debate are going to have no plausible consequences for the nation. They are just a distraction.

No Mention: That said, so far, the entire election campaign has been little more than a distraction. Not once in the Trump-Biden debate did the No. 1 threat facing the nation ever come up. Instead, both candidates showed how unsuited they were to America’s top office. Neither revealed any trace of real dignity, real modesty, real intelligence… or any awareness of the danger. And last night came the Pence-Harris showdown. This time, the newspapers celebrated the event as a “serious political debate.”

But again, the most serious threat to the U.S. and its people was not even mentioned. We found out a bit more about the candidates’ opinions on climate change, tax policy, COVID control, and other miscellany. But nothing about how the country might get out of its Doomsday Debt Debacle.

Cover Up: The federal government now owes $27 trillion that it can’t pay. The country as a whole, including the private sector, owes $80 trillion… that it can’t pay. And the government has promised America’s 76 million baby boomers (and others) $210 trillion in unfunded “entitlements” – pension, medical, and Social Security benefits – that can’t be paid, either.

Rather than man-up… and cut back on spending, both parties are committed to covering these unpayable debts by printing money – a policy that always leads to bankruptcy, poverty, depression, and inflation, as well as social and political chaos. But mum’s the word. Shhh… Cover your eyes. Plug your ears. And seal your lips. The candidates, the Federal Reserve, the press – all keep silent because they know the voters don’t want to hear about it. And their own fortunes, reputations, and careers depend on keeping the jig up.

Lagging Behind: Trouble is, you can’t keep this sort of party going forever. Yes, people are still willing to shake a leg… and the feds can keep spiking the punch. But the band gets tired. On Tuesday, the president claimed the U.S. is “leading the world in economic recovery.” That is not true. The U.S. is lagging. The official unemployment rate is nearly 8% – more than the 7.4% average for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations. Some nations have unemployment as low as 3%.

But there are 28 million Americans still collecting unemployment benefits – state and/or federal. The American labor force is said to be 160 million. So the real unemployment rate may be closer to 18%. And there are 13 million people on “disability.” (These "official" numbers are totally incorrect. - CP)

As for the growth rate, China is still growing at more than 10% per year. The U.S. is not growing at all – it is in recession, with GDP growth at MINUS 9%.

Rising Inflation: Most interesting, from our standpoint, is that the inflation rate is rising. Here’s NBC News: "Inflation in the U.S., a measurement of price increases for consumers, stands at 4.6 percent, compared to an average of 3.9 percent for other OECD countries. That means American wages aren’t going as far to cover bills."

Sooner or later, higher rates of inflation are inevitable. And a lower dollar, too. Stephen Roach explained why in the Financial Times… "A crash in the dollar is likely and it could fall by as much as 35 per cent by the end of 2021. The reason: a lethal interplay between a collapse in domestic saving and a gaping current account deficit. […] At -1.2 per cent in the second quarter, net domestic saving as a share of national income was fully 4.1 percentage points below the first quarter, the steepest quarterly plunge in records that go back to 1947. […]

This was an accident waiting to happen. Going into the pandemic, the net domestic saving rate averaged just 2.9 per cent of gross national income from 2011 to 2019, less than half the 7 per cent average from 1960 to 2005. This thin cushion left the U.S. vulnerable to any shock, let alone COVID."

Complex Web: And here we pause to clear up a misunderstanding. The press reports the money-printing as a “stimulus” measure. But there is no record in the long, sorry history of state-managed economies of a single one that was actually improved by printing-press money. “Distort” would be a better word. “Pervert” is even better, because it suggests unnatural and disgusting tendencies.

There are a lot of things you can stimulate… You can stimulate a dipsomaniac with a bottle of whiskey… You can stimulate a poet by flattering his rhymes… and a Malvolio by admiring his stockings. But economies are neither vain nor addicted. They are complex webs… intricately balanced and trussed up… each strand with two ends and many connections. Tug on one end… and you bend the entire web.

You can stimulate savers by increasing interest rates (which America’s last honest central banker, Paul Volcker, did in 1980). Or you can stimulate borrowers (which the Federal Reserve has done this entire century… by lowering interest rates). But stimulate the savers and you un-stimulate the borrowers. Stimulate the borrowers and you un-stimulate the savers.

What you can’t do… or at least no one has ever figured out how to do it… is stimulate both ends at the same time.

Basic Problem: Apart from the historical record… which is empty (that is to say, vacant of success stories on the subject)… there is the obvious theoretical problem. It is impossible to give one group an advantage – more money, lower interest rates, higher stock prices – without simultaneously giving another group a disadvantage. Higher prices may be great for the seller… but what about the buyer? Higher interest rates may be great for the saver… but what about the borrower?

The problem is so basic and inescapable that we suspect the professional economists – like the politicians themselves – of being liars and frauds. To make a long story short… the feds’ printing-press money can distort. It can’t improve. And the more they pretend to stimulate the economy with printing-press money, the more they make a mess of it.

The distortions reduce efficiency, real investment, and wealth… slow growth… cause people to make mistakes… and make them feel, correctly, that they are getting ripped off. And then, the more you distort, the more you have to distort… or the whole thing blows up in a Doomsday Debt Debacle.

You’d think at least one of the candidates – perhaps in an unguarded moment – would say something about it. ‘Til tomorrow…"

- www.rogueeconomics.com

"Still, Sometimes..."

“The early bird catches the worm. A stitch in time saves nine. He who hesitates is lost. We can’t pretend we haven’t been told. We’ve all heard the proverbs, heard the philosophers, heard our grandparents warning us about wasted time, heard the damn poets urging us to seize the day. Still, sometimes, we have to see for ourselves. We have to make our own mistakes. We have to learn our own lessons. We have to sweep today’s possibility under tomorrow’s rug, until we can’t anymore, until we finally understand for ourselves what Benjamin Franklin meant: That knowing is better than wondering. That waking is better than sleeping. And that even the biggest failure, even the worst, most intractable mistake, beats the hell out of never trying.”

- “Meredith”, “Grey’s Anatomy”

“7 Things Fear Has Stolen From You”

“7 Things Fear Has Stolen From You”

by Marc Chernoff

“There is no greater hell than to be a prisoner of fear.”

- Ben Johnson

“Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid; courage means you don’t let fear stop you. Everything you want is on the other side of fear. Don’t ever hesitate to give yourself a chance to be everything you are capable of being. Although fear can feel overwhelming, and defeats more people than any other force in the world, it’s not as powerful as it seems. Fear is only as deep as your mind allows. You are still in control. The key is to acknowledge your fear and directly address it. You must step right up and confront it face to face. This tactic robs fear of its power, instead of fear robbing YOU of…

1. Your true path and purpose. Fear of being different: Don’t be fooled by what others say, especially when they try to tell you what is right for you. Listen and then draw your own conclusions.  What is your intuition telling you? There is not a clear path that everyone should follow. Your greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding in life at all the wrong things. Choose a path that fits YOU. Those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it. Challenge yourself to ask with each and every step, and each focus point that consumes your energy: “Does this thing I’m doing right now truly serve me and those I care about in the next few minutes, few months, and few years?” Whatever you settle on, just make sure you don’t gain the whole world by losing your soul and purpose in the process. 

2. Self-respect. Fear of not being good enough: Don’t be too hard on yourself. There are plenty of people willing to do that for you. Do your best and surrender the rest. Tell yourself, “I am doing the best I can with what I have in this moment. That is all I can ever expect of anyone, including me.” Love yourself and be proud of everything you do, even your mistakes, because your mistakes mean you’re trying. If you feel like others are not treating you with love and respect, check your price tag. Perhaps you subconsciously marked yourself down. Because it’s YOU who tells others what you’re worth by showing them what you are willing to accept for your time and attention. So get off the clearance rack. If you don’t value and respect yourself, wholeheartedly, no one else will either.

3. Your ability to make concrete decisions. Fear of commitment: You cannot live your life at the mercy of chance. You cannot stumble along with a map marked only with the places you fear, or the places you know you don’t want to revisit. You cannot remain trapped, endlessly, in a state where you are unable to ask for directions, even though you’re terribly lost, because you don’t know your destination. You have to commit to goals that speak to you. You have to stand up, look at yourself in the mirror, and say, “It isn’t good enough for me to know only what I DON’T want in life. I need to decide what I DO want.” 

4. Priceless opportunities and life experiences. Fear of change and discomfort: As Thich Nhat Hanh so perfectly said, “People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.” In many cases you stay stuck in your old routines for no other reason than that they are familiar to you. In other words, you’re afraid of change and the unknown. You continually put your dreams and goals off until tomorrow, and you pass on great opportunities simply because they have the potential to lead you out of your comfort zone.

You start using excuses to justify your lack of backbone: “Someday when I have more money,” or “when I’m older,” or the over-abused “I’ll get to it as soon as I have more time.” This is a vicious cycle that leads to a deeply unsatisfying life – a way of thinking that eventually sends you to your grave with immense regret. Regret that you didn’t follow your heart. Regret that you always put everyone else’s needs before your own. Regret that you didn’t do what you could have done when you had the chance.

5. General happiness and peace of mind. Fear of facing inner truths: If you keep looking for happiness outside yourself, you will never find it. Happiness is found from within. What you seek is not somewhere else at some other time; what you seek is here and now, within you. The more you look for it outside yourself, the more it hides from you. Relax, remember the source of your deepest desires, and allow yourself to know their fulfillment. A choice, not circumstances, determines happiness. Each morning when you open your eyes, say to yourself:  “I, not external people or events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. It’s up to me. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow hasn’t come yet. I only have today and I’m going to be happy in it.” 

6. Your willingness to love, truly and purely. Fear of not being loved in return: Although it is nice when gestures of love are returned, true love is one-way traffic. It’s a pure flow of giving and expecting nothing in return. Anything else is a contract. Notice how whenever you allow love to flow you are always clear, calm and strong. It is only when the thought arises, “What have they given me in return?” that there is confusion and resentment. Ego transacts, love transforms. Life is too short for all these meticulous contracts and transactions.

Look out for yourself by focusing your love in a direction that feels right to you, but once you decide to love, remain clear, remain bright, and remain strong. Love without expectation. Don’t let fear get in your way. When the love you give is true, the people worthy of your love will gradually reveal themselves over time.

7. The right company. Fear of being alone: Sadly, no matter how much love you give, some relationships simply aren’t meant to be. You can try your hardest, you can do everything and say everything, but sometimes people just aren’t worth stressing over anymore, and they aren’t worth worrying about. It’s important to know when to distance yourself from someone who only hurts you and brings you down. When you give your love to someone, truly and purely without expectation, and it’s never good enough for them, there’s a good chance you’re giving your love to the wrong person.

The bottom line is that long-term relationships should help you, not hurt you. Spend time with nice people who are smart, driven and like-minded. And remember, good relationships are a sacred bond – a circle of trust. Both parties must be 100% on board. If and when the time comes to let a relationship go, don’t be hostile. Simply thank the relationships that don’t work out for you, because they just made room for the ones that will.

Next steps: Your biggest fears are completely dependent on you for their survival. Every new day is another chance to change your life, and it’s way too short to let fear interfere. Today, focus your conscious mind on things you desire, not things you fear. Doing so can bring your dreams to life.

Your turn… What has fear stolen from you?  What has it stopped you from doing, being, or achieving?  Leave a comment below and share your thoughts with the community.”

- http://www.marcandangel.com/

Musical Interlude: "432Hz Positive Energy Boost, Self-Healing"

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PowerThoughts Meditation Club, 

"432hz Positive Energy Boost, Self-Healing"

"These frequencies have a specific healing effect on your subconscious mind. Listening to the 432Hz frequency resonates inside our body, releases emotional blockages and expands our consciousness. The most elemental state of vibration is that of sound. Everything has an optimum range of vibration (frequency), and that rate is called resonance. When we are in resonance, we are balanced. Every organ and every cell in our precious body absorbs and emits sound with particular optimum resonate frequency. 432Hz and 52Hz tuned music creates resonance in our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual body."

Full screen mode highly recommended. Relax...

"How It Really Is"

 

"Market Fantasy Updates 10/8/20"

"Market Fantasy Updates 10/8/20" 

Down the rabbit hole of psychopathic greed and insanity...

Only the consequences are real - to you!

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"The more I see of the monied classes, 

the better I understand the guillotine."

- George Bernard Shaw

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Gregory Mannarino,

AM Oct 8, 2020: 

"Important Updates Plus!"

- https://traderschoice.net/

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Updated live.

- https://www.marketwatch.com/tools/marketsummary

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- https://www.zerohedge.com/

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- https://wallstreetonparade.com/

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Daily Update (October 7th to 8th)

- http://www.shadowstats.com/

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Insane...

"Covid-19 Pandemic Update 10/8/20"

 

by David Leonhardt

October 8, 2020

• "In a video from outside the White House, Trump called his coronavirus infection “a blessing from God” and took credit for the decision to treat himself with an experimental antibody therapy. He pledged to provide the drug to Americans free of charge, without offering any details. Hours later, the drug’s maker, Regeneron, said it had applied for emergency F.D.A. approval.

• Dr. Sean Conley, the White House physician, said Trump was symptom-free and feeling “great.” Conley offered few details about the president’s treatment, including whether he was still taking a steroid meant to treat severe Covid-19 cases.

• After Trump scuttled negotiations over a full pandemic relief bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin discussed a narrower stand-alone bill to bail out the airline industry.

• Many Notre Dame students and faculty members are furious at the university’s president, the Rev. John Jenkins, after he attended a White House event without a mask and then tested positive. The student newspaper called his behavior an “embarrassment.”

• Officials in Boston are delaying their plan to reopen public school classrooms after the city’s rate of positive test results has climbed."

Oct 8 2020 12:05 AM ET:

 Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Global Outbreak 
The coronavirus pandemic has sickened more than 36,154,800 
people, according to official counts, including 7,582,205 Americans.

      Oct 8 2020 12:05 AM ET: 
Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count

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- https://www.zerohedge.com/

10/08/2020 - 09:30: "EU Warns COVID-19 Vaccine Before New Year "Very Unlikely"; Another Titans Player Tests Positive: Live Updates"

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Updated 10/8/20, 3:23 AM ET

Click image for larger size.

- https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

"Cultural Marxism's Origins: How the Disciples of an Obscure Italian Linguist Subverted America" (Excerpt)

"Cultural Marxism's Origins: How the Disciples 

of an Obscure Italian Linguist Subverted America" (Excerpt)

by Ammo.com

"The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born:

 now is the time of monsters."

- Antonio Gramsci

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

- Sun Tzu

"You may have heard the terms “Cultural Marxism,” “Critical Theory” or “Frankfurt School” bandied about. And while you might have an intuitive approximation of what these terms mean for America in the 21st century, there’s a good chance that you don’t know much about the deep theory, where the ideology comes from and what it has planned for America – and the world.

The underlying theory here is a variant of Marxism, pioneered by early-20th-century Italian Marxist politician and linguist Antonio Gramsci. Gramscian Marxism is a radical departure from Classical Marxism. One does not need to endorse the Classical Marxism of Marx, Engels and others to appreciate the significant differences between the two. He is easily the most influential thinker that you have never heard of.

Whereas Classical Marxism located what has been called “the revolutionary subject” (the people who will overthrow capitalism and usher in socialism) within the broad working class, primarily in what is now the First World, Gramscism takes a very different approach. This approach underpins most of the social unrest that is gripping America and the West today. In a sense, we are living through the endgame of a Gramscian revolution.

There are two important diversions that Gramscism has from more traditional Marxist thought: First, that economics was the base of culture and politics. Second, philosophical materialism in the Marxist sense where reality is effectively formed by the means of economic production.

For Gramsci, culture was more important than either economics or politics. This was what needed to be changed for there to be a revolution. As such, the weapon to be used for revolution was not the economic might of an organized working class, but a “long march through the institutions” (a phrase actually coined by German Marxist Rudi Dutschke), whereby every institution in the West would be subverted through penetration and infiltration.

Throughout this article, we will use the term “Cultural Marxism” as a catchall to refer to this phenomenon, because it is the most all-encompassing and does not limit us to discussing any one specific variation (Gramsci, the Frankfurt School or what have you). Finally, we should briefly mention that, the claims of Dr. Jordan Peterson notwithstanding, Cultural Marxism is ideologically distinct from postmodernism and deconstruction, both of which are hostile toward Marxism. We will not touch on either postmodernism or deconstruction in this article, though they certainly have been influential on the international left."

"Know your enemy..." These people are deadly serious, folks. To more

 fully understand them, I highly recommend reading this full article here:

- https://ammo.com/articles/

Must Watch! “Market Bubbles Go Supersonic; Money Printing Utopia; Economy Dead On Arrival; Debt Trap”

Jeremiah Babe,

“Market Bubbles Go Supersonic; Money Printing Utopia;

 Economy Dead On Arrival; Debt Trap”

Musical Interlude: The Moody Blues, "Your Wildest Dreams"

The Moody Blues, "Your Wildest Dreams"

"A Look to the Heavens"

"What's happening at the center of spiral galaxy NGC 5643? A swirling disk of stars and gas, NGC 5643's appearance is dominated by blue spiral arms and brown dust, as shown in the featured image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The core of this active galaxy glows brightly in radio waves and X-rays where twin jets have been found. 

An unusual central glow makes NGC 5643 one of the closest examples of the Seyfert class of galaxies, where vast amounts of glowing gas are thought to be falling into a central massive black hole. NGC 5643, is a relatively close 55 million light years away, spans about 100 thousand light years across, and can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation of the Wolf (Lupus)."

- https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201005.html

"Something Like Reverence..."

“When the pain of leaving behind what we know outweighs the pain of embracing it, or when the power we face is overwhelming and neither flight nor fight will save us, there may be salvation in sitting still. And if salvation is impossible, then at least before perishing we may gain a clearer vision of where we are. By sitting still I do not mean the paralysis of dread, like that of a rabbit frozen beneath the dive of a hawk. I mean something like reverence, a respectful waiting, a deep attentiveness to forces much greater than our own.”

- Scott Russell Sanders

Chet Raymo, “Seeing”

“Seeing”

by Chet Raymo

“There was a moment yesterday evening when the elements conspired to evoke these few lines, spoken by Macbeth:

“Light thickens,

And the crow makes wing to the rooky woods,

Good things of day begin to droop and drowse.

The fading light. The crows gliding down the fields to the trees in Ballybeg:

Light thickens,

And the crow makes wing to the rooky woods,

Good things of day begin to droop and drowse.”

It’s all there, in those few lines – the mysterious power of poetry to infuse the world with meaning, to anoint the world with a transforming grace. One could spend an hour picking those lines apart, syntax and sound, sense and alliteration. The t’s of light thickening, tongue against the teeth. The alar w’s making wing. The owl eyes of the double o’s. The d’s nodding into slumber - day, droop, drowse.

The poet Howard Nemerov says of poetry that it “works on the very surface of the eye, that thin, unyielding wall of liquid between mind and world, where somehow, mysteriously, the patterns formed by electrical storms assaulting the retina become things and the thought of things and the names of things and the relations supposed between thing.” It works too in the mouth, in the physical act of speech - tongue, teeth, those d’s gliding deeper into the darkness of the throat.

I stand in the gloaming garden and the black birds glide, down, down to Ballybeg, and I marvel that with so few syllables Shakespeare can - across the centuries - teach me how to see.”

- http://blog.sciencemusings.com/

The Poet: Czeslaw Milosz, “A Song On The End Of The World”

“A Song On The End Of The World”

“On the day the world ends

A bee circles a clover,

A fisherman mends a glimmering net.

Happy porpoises jump in the sea,

By the rainspout young sparrows are playing

And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be.

On the day the world ends

Women walk through the fields under their umbrellas,

A drunkard grows sleepy at the edge of a lawn,

Vegetable peddlers shout in the street

And a yellow-sailed boat comes nearer the island,

The voice of a violin lasts in the air

And leads into a starry night.

And those who expected lightning and thunder

Are disappointed.

And those who expected signs and archangels’ trumps

Do not believe it is happening now.

As long as the sun and the moon are above,

As long as the bumblebee visits a rose,

As long as rosy infants are born

No one believes it is happening now.

Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet

Yet is not a prophet, for he’s much too busy,

Repeats while he binds his tomatoes:

There will be no other end of the world,

There will be no other end of the world.”

~ Czeslaw Milosz

"The Real Damage..."

“The real damage is done by those millions who want to ‘survive.’ The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves – or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honor, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you. But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.”

- Sophie Scholl

"America Is On The Brink Of A Major Food Shortage! Be Ready For Worldwide Hunger Crisis"

"America Is On The Brink Of A Major Food Shortage!

 Be Ready For Worldwide Hunger Crisis"

by Epic Economist

"As we approach the holiday season, a new era of hunger crisis is spreading nationwide. While the government decided to postpone conversations about a new stimulus relief until after the elections, a leading food bank has warned that the U.S will face food shortages of up to 8 billion meals in the coming months.

A new tsunami of layoffs is being formed on the horizon which will likely make millions of Americans go hungry for the first time in their lives. More alarmingly, the number of hungry children has skyrocketed, and the dependency on food banks has soared over the past months as they face disruptions in both donations and volunteer work. That’s why, in this video, we reflected upon the devastating repercussions of the 2020 US hunger crisis.

The Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey released a poll that showed that about 22.3 million adults were already facing food insecurity. The number of households turning into their local food banks has continuously increased throughout the past year, but ever since the health crisis struck America, food insecurity has spiraled out of control.

A recent report disclosed that Feeding America is alerting it may experience a massive food shortage within the next twelve months. The organization forecasts a 6 billion to 8 billion meal shortfall until mid-2021, projecting the total need for charitable food over the next year could get to 17 billion pounds, more than three times last year’s distribution.

A recent survey found out food banks have seen a 56 percent increase in demand, and this overwhelming rise is bringing multiple challenges to their operation, because, on top of the food shortages they are facing, volunteerism has also significantly declined this year, making it even more difficult to help the families in need, considerably complicating the food distribution process. 

Furthermore, an analysis indicated 10 percent of American households are food insecure. To make things worse, between 9 and 14 percent percent of adults with kids said their children sometimes or often went hungry, which translates in 5 million schoolchildren who are living in a household where people can’t afford sufficient food.

The number of severely underweight children amazingly-increased, as parents were laid-off and couldn’t find ways to provide enough food. These large figures represent a failure of the federal government’s food programs, many of which are scheduled to end this week unless President Trump signs new legislation, which seems unlikely. Meanwhile, the deteriorating economic conditions have prompted all states to issue emergency supplements to food programs to provide all households maximum benefit. 

Research has shown that kids living in food-insecure households are prone to suffer elevated rates of anemia, asthma, long-term neurological damage, and many other ailments. Hungry children cannot concentrate at school, and inevitably are likely to fall behind their classmates.

Food banks across the country are completely flooded with thousands of cars are lining up to get food, registering a 600 percent increase in demand in South Florida, while in New York City, the number of people reliant on one emergency food pantry went from 3,715 in February to over 18,000 at the present moment.

But in New Jersey, things are way darker, more than one million New Jerseyans could suffer food insecurity, the number of those who have limited access to food supplies is expected to grow by more than 50% by December due to the catastrophic economic collapse, which proves that it largely exceeds the depth of the 2008 financial crash. 

The current hunger crisis and food shortages are solely the result of political decisions. Their decisions aren’t considering for a second all the families in need. Instead, their only preoccupation was how to keep food prices up. The famine problem is about to become a major national emergency."

- https://www.epiceconomist.com

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